The Mothers of Revelations

 

I'm sorry, but I couldn't resist the pun.  Written on the back, "This was Taken Mother's Day." 

The Post War European Trip Collection-Moses

Written on the back, "This is supposed to be the finest work of sculptur ever conceived by man.  It's a statue of Moses holding the Ten Commandments and was done by Michael Angelo.  It now sits inside St. Peter's church and is part of a memorial to a Pope who died centuries ago."  The card was never mailed.

Our traveler visited a number of places,  I have no idea as to her route, and feel no obligation to group locations,  As usual, click on The Post War European Trip Collection in labels to see more.

What's In the Bowl?

Let's be honest, this is almost certainly a church scene of some kind.  When I first looked at it I thought the guy on the right was holding up a bible in front of the old lady.  After I scanned it and blew it up, the bible appeared to be either a scroll or a wrapper.  And it only looks like it could be a wrapper because there is some sort of metal bowl in front of the lady, and what could be a puff of smoke rising from the bowl. Had the man just emptied some sort of sacred powder into the bowl? What kind of ceremony is this?

Views of the World, Cologne Cathedral, Germany

The postcards in this series were made for the American market, and I have to wonder, when  people looked at these cards, did it make them want to travel and see the real thing, or did they say, "Hey, I've seen a picture, that's good enough."

Construction began on Cologne Cathedral in 1248, and was abandoned in 1473.  Construction resumed in the nineteenth century and was completed 1880.  During World War 2, the Cathedral was hit, by bombs, fourteen times.  Repairs began as early as 1944 and those repairs were completed in 1956.  In 2007, a new stained glass window was installed.  It was designed by German artist Gerhard Richter, whose work spans  pure abstraction to photo-realism.

Click on Views of the World to see other cards in the series.

The Broken Snake Handler Photograph

I buy many of the photos in my collection at flea markets and antique malls.  I also buy on EBay.  When I buy online, I often buy collections, an envelope stuffed with old pictures.  As can be imagined, the quality can be uneven.   When I opened up the mail and was going through these images, I was immediately drawn to this picture of a snake handler.  Probably not a religious cultist, but it came from Texas, so it's possible.  As I held it my hands. the card that it was mounted on snapped in half.  Would I have bought it if I had known it's condition?  Probably not, but I'm still glad I have it.  After all, break down the unit price on the lot, and I paid about five cents for it.

Mission Boys

Written on the back, "Some of the stuff we work with: Remy and Florian and Michael-who, with Raphael the Novice, make a quartet that is hard to beat intellectually and spiritually-in India.  ASPS  22/8/53"

I'm not real big on missionaries.  Yes, I do understand that many of them provide health care, food, and education in countries where many people go without those things.  But the way I figure it, if someone wants to switch religions, they'll do it without outside interference.  

Anyway, I'd like to recommend a book.  Head Hunting In the Solomon Islands by Caroline Mytinger.  And no, it's not what you think.  It's a very vintage, probably out of print, travel book about two young American women who bum their way to the south seas, earning money painting portraits of the local colonial grandees so that they can also paint portraits of the native islanders.  (At least Caroline paints.  Her companion Margret plays the ukulele.)  The book has it's fair share of racial and ethnic insensitivity, par for the course for a book written in the 1930s and published in 1942, but it also has some interesting insights on the British colonials, and their odd sense that the islands and their peoples were property to be used and exploited as needed.   I'd check thrift shops and used book stores.  So much more satisfying than Amazon.  Remember, Jeff Bezos is not your friend.  

Another Mystery Location

Every so often, I like to throw one of these mystery location photos out into the blog universe in hope that someone out there will recognize where it was shot.  The kneeling people suggest a church, as does the building facade.  The only info on the back of the photo is a stamp, "16.4.73" which i'm interpreting as 16 April 1973.  Not an American (By that I mean United States.) usage, but where?  And finally, this one came from the grab bag of photos, an envelope of pictures I bought, unseen, with 100 snapshots.  The grab bag was bought is southern California, so that might give an edge to Mexico or central America.  Of course, that's far from certain.  California has a lot of immigrants from places other than Latin America, and throw in tourism, in the end , it's all just guess work.

Easter Sunday Morn

Well, the title of this post is what's written on the back.  Yes, it's almost Easter and just in case I'm not able to post anything this Sunday, I'm putting this one up know.  I have to say, when I was a kid I hated Easter.  I've never been a believer.  Even as a child, I didn't see the sense of religion.  Despite that disbelief, my mother made me go to church.  Happily I had an out.  My believing mother was like a lot of Christians.  Her church attendance was limited to the big religious holidays, so I was free to skip out the back door.  But on Easter, it wasn't just the risk of being ratted out by my sister, it was Mom sitting next to me in the pew with that be a good boy or else glare.

I hope they took the dog with them.  I still wouldn't have been a believer, but I might have been willing to sit through Sunday school and those long, boring sermons if I could have taken my dog.

Burma

At first glance, this isn't much of a postcard.  With it's amazing detail, it's clearly a photograph, most likely a black & white photograph, that has been hand colored.  Labeled "Pension Francaise Maurice" it was probably given out to guests passing through Naples. A nice image, but not all that exciting.

But turn it over and it gets far more interesting.  There are two postmarks, one from Naples, and one from Burma.  The Italian stamp is mostly obscured, but the Burmese, "MANDALAY  11 OCT 28  2:30 P.M."   is easily read.  It's addressed to "Miss H. M. Price, A.B.M. Girls School, Mandalay, Burma, Brit. India"  And the message, "We are coming along toward Burma at a pretty rapid clip.  Sail tonight for Bombay, ought to reach R by Oct. 10th.  Hope to see you soon after that.  Our journey has been so rapid I haven't had time to write any letters.  Shall have lots to tell you.  I have a pkg. for you I think you'll like.  Yrs, B."

I punched A.B.M. girls school into the search engine, not expecting much.  My initial thought was that it had to be a school for the daughters of British, colonial administrators.  I was wrong.  A.B.M. stands for American Baptist Missionary, and it wasn't a school for white children, but a church school that taught Christianity along with useful skills to Burmese girls.  The earliest reference to a Baptist missionary school in Burma that I could find was from 1895, a boy's school in Mandalay.  For girls, 1906, also in Mandalay.  So that means that Miss Price must have been a teacher.  I couldn't find anything about her on the web, but I did find mention of an L. W. Price, a Baptist missionary in Burma,  from 1900.  Possibly a relative of some kind, although 1928 is quite a gap.  So maybe not.

Mandalay was the last royal capital of Burma, now Myanmar.  In 1885, the British conquered the country, exiled the king and queen, and added it to their colonial empire.  The palace was looted.  The art, and symbols of state are in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, some of which are on display.  I suspect that "R" refers to Rangoon, now Yangon.  After the British conquest, they moved the capital from Mandalay to Rangoon.  While Rangoon, a seaport, would become a major commercial hub for the British, Mandalay would remain the center of Buddhist and Burmese culture.  Burma became independent in 1948.  In 2002, the military junta running the country began construction of a brand new city, Naypydaw. In 2006, it became the new capital of Myanmar.  Several years ago the military was forced to cede power to an elected, civilian government.  Only time will tell how stable it will be.

An uncle of mine was in the British military in World War 2.  He served in the CBI theater.  That's China, Burma, India.  He told me stories of taking Japanese prisoners up in DC-3 transports and throwing them out over the jungles and mountains of Burma. An interrogation technique that rarely worked.  He told me how the soldiers would beat and imprison any Burmese thought to be disloyal to the British Empire.  It always amazed me that he didn't understand why the British were so despised by their colonial subjects.

Children 5

Similar pose, and same subject as the last post, but a different person.  All the images in this sequence are from the grab bag of photos, so this one could be from the same family.  Or then again, it could be a coincidence.

Children 4

I know a fair amount about the history of religion, but not a lot about the day to day practice of religion.  I think this real photo post card is a photograph of a young boy who has just been confirmed in his church.  At least that is what it was called in the church my mother made me attend before she realized that I was a hopeless case.

Stamped on the back, "LA PHOTOBROME 42, rue Van Osst-1-517.74  BRUXELLES."  Brussels, Belgium, I assume.